¥ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.* 
# # 

t [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] | 

J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I 



AN OUTLINE SKETCH 



CHARACTER OF WjlTEIj, 

«" AND 

ITS NATURAL MOVEMENTS. 

The Important Discovery 

OF 

The True Form for k Vessel; 

CREATING AN ERA 
IN THE HISTORY OF NAVIGATION. 



By Capt. Jas. E. Cole. 



PRICE, - 10 Cents. 



NEW YORK ; 

E. O'Keefe, Printer and Stationer, 

28, 30 & 32 Centre St. 



1879. 



Introductory. 

Nautical men, and others, in various parts 
of the world, have ever been seeking the 
true form for a vessel, but as yet they have 
' not discovered it, for it is still sought for. 
As it is the form that is wanted, men have 
confined themselves to an experimental 
study of the form alone, seeking by alter- 
ing and improving it to attain their object. 
This certainly is a wrong method of pro- 
cedure, for it is obvious to all, that as our 
ability to move in vessels is derived from 
the character of water, and as the resist- 
ance we encounter comes from it the onlv 
proper way to proceed is to learn its char- 
acter, laws and movements and then form 
the vessel intelligently, in such a way, as 
will secure the best results. 

Having myself pursued this course and 
learned its character and what the form 
should be, I in this way present the know- 
ledge gained to the public for their consi- 
deration and acceptance, and I request the 
reader's careful attention to what is written. 



THE MECHANISM OF WATER. 

Water, in quantity, is composed of in- 
visible globes which range themselves in 
perpendicular columns resting on the bot- 
tom under them. While water to the eye 
appears so compact as to form a solid mass, 
these globes are nevertheless each and 
every one separate from every other one, 
giving them the power to move freely among 
other globes without friction. In this state- 
ment we have the mechanical construction 
of water, and it certainly is not difficult to 
understand. The man who refuses to ac- 
cept of it because he cannot see the invisi- 
ble, need not, he being one of those who 
will not know if they can prevent it. 

THE MOVEMENTS OF WATER. 

This mechanism gives to water the char- 
acter and movements it has, which are those 
and those only that we would expect from 
such a construction. First, we have the 
balancing of these columns which gives 
water a perpendicular or vertical movement 
in line with them. Next we have a hori- 
zontal movement as we see in tides and cur- 



rents which is caused by the globes of 
water, (ranged as they are in columns,) 
being pliable, causing each and every globe 
to give out at all times a horizontal pressure 
exactly equaling the weight resting on them. 
In tides and currents, the water is more eleva- 
ted at one point than it is at another, there 
is a slight descent to its surface producing 
a proportionate shortening of the columns 
of globes that compose it. As each globe 
in every column gives out a horizontal pres- 
sure corresponding to the weight on it, the 
globes in the more elevated columns have in 
horizontal lines a greater pressure than the 
globes in the columns less elevated, and 
consequently they press more forcibly and 
drive before them in a tide or current all 
the water that in horizontal lines has a less 
pressure. Although I find it difficult to 
state this clearly, it certainly is not so diffi- 
cult to understand it, and as it is worth know- 
ing, I trust the reader will understand it, for 
in it we have the secret of the power that 
moves such vast quantities of water up and 
down our rivers in tides, and the secret of the 
power that moves the water from before a 
vessel's path and places it behind her. 



Beside the above mentioned well known 
movements, the wave motion causes the 
water from the surface to the bottom to 
gyrate in circles, corresponding to its size 
and form, which in giving form to a sea- 
going vessel should be considered if we 
would build her so that the ocean wave 
could never harm her. 

THE BOTTOM CONSIDERED. 

In connection with these movements, we 
must not overlook, or disregard, the impor- 
tant fact that the bottom on which the 
water rests, is the fulcrum of its power 
and the base of its movements. Or the 
fact that when we use a vessel as a lever to 
move it, that the bottom under her, no mat- 
ter how far off it may be, supports her 
weight, and is the point where the fulcrum 
power to move water is obtained. 

EXISTING FORMS FAULTY. 

Hitherto we have formed vessels without 
taking into consideration these important 
features, and the result has been very dif- 
ferent from what it would bad we done so. 
Our forms being wedge-like, when they 



move quickly much of the water is ploughed 
upward and pressed away to the side in 
waves, which is a mistake, as we will clearly 
see when we look at it from a more intelligent 
stand point than we hitherto have had, for 
we are thus driving from our control the 
very water that is needed to help clear the 
vessel's path, and needed to fill in behind 
her. That we are working against ourselves,, 
and in opposition to nature's laws, is evi- 
denced by the well-known fact, that as we 
increase the driving power, and more water 
is ploughed up, the speed rapidly becomes 
disproportionate to the power exerted, and 
if excessive power be used, the speed will 
be thereby actually reduced, and so great a 
power can be applied, and so much water 
can be ploughed up that the vessel will re- 
fuse to proceed. 

The fact is, we have had, and now have, 
an improper form, we have thrown away 
upon it much power without getting in re- 
turn an equivalent result, and we have been 
misled by it, and have formed an erroneous 
opinion in regard to the speed attainable by 
vessels moving in water. To form some 



idea of the power thrown away, consider 
that our best formed steamboats, when 
passing up our large rivers, set in motion 
every drop of water in them, and send pow- 
erful waves to dash violently against their 
shores. 

HOW TO FOBM A VESSEL. 

To correct these faults in the form is not 
difficult, to obtain one that will move in ac- 
cord with nature's laws requires no objec- 
tionable change, in fact, we may use sub- 
stantially the same vessel. "When intend- 
ing to build, and having an approved model 
which represents a half section of the ves- 
sel to be constructed, all that is necessary 
is, instead of building from the model in the 
usual way, with the bows and rounded side 
outward, that we place these parts in solid 
contact amidships, and let the straight side 
of the model represent and be the model 
for the outer sides of the vessel. 

ITS ADVANTAGES. 

By placing the bows inward, and the 
straight sides outward, we get much greater 
stability, an important point, especially to 



sailing vessels. And we have all the water 
that is in the vessel's path, and which must 
be moved by her, where it is perfectly un- 
der our control. We have it between the 
lever and the fulcrum, or the vessel and the 
bottom, where the power to move it is, and 
where we have the power to move it by the 
perpendicular and horizontal movements 
natural to water. We have it where all the 
power that is exerted will give its full 
equivalent of speed. Yes, we have it where 
we can put in force that first great charge 
given to man, to " Conquer the earth and 
subdue it." 

EXAMPLES TO SHOW ITS WORKING. 

We may obtain an idea of the practical 
working of such a form from the tidal move- 
ment. When it is one hour's flood at New 
York and the tide has risen eight inches, it 
is low water at a point on the Hudson, 
twenty-four miles distant. Thus there is a 
fall to the water of one inch in three miles, 
which fall, slight as it is, owing to the globu- 
lar columnar construction of water, globe 
pressing against globe, and column press- 



10 

ing against column, is sufficient to create a 
current of three miles an hour. The deeper 
the water is, the longer the columns are, the 
more rapid is the current, as it should be, 
this being its construction. 

To apply this to a vessel, suppose a steam 
boat built on this principle to be 300 feet 
long, and suppose by driving her ahead the 
water is elevated two inches more at the 
bow than it is at the stern, then we have a 
descent to its surface of two inches in 300 
feet, which, being one hundred times greater 
angle than is the fall of one inch in three 
miles, must act more powerfully on the 
water under the vessel to drive it, as in a 
tide, in a swifter current sternward. . 

We can at any time see, when vessels are^ 
moving at a moderate speed, the large quan- I 
tity of water before them strangely disap- j 
pear without increasing in any degree the I 
volume alongside. To account for this, we j 
must understand that there is a sternward I 
current of all the water under them, which j 
is sufficiently rapid to draw this water from 
the bow, convey it under the bottom, and j 
place it again on the surface at the stern. ) 



r 



11 

Again, suppose the vessel to draw five 
feet of water, and to be moving in water 
that is forty feet deep, a sternward current 
under her of three miles an hour would 
clear a channel for her passage at the rate 
of twenty-one miles an hour. If the speed 
of this current be doubled, then the channel 
would be cleared twice as fast, and the boat 
would move with twice the speed. Or what 
is the same, a current of three miles, in 
twice the depth of water, would double the 
speed. Thus we may see how power ap- 
plied to such a form would act on the 
water, and see that it is advantageous to 
have a considerable depth of water. We can 
see that, unless in shallow water, it would be 
impossible to elevate the water between the 
bows to any injurious extent, because every 
inch it is elevated increases the speed of the 
sternward current, which is clearing the way 
for a more rapid passage of the vessel. 

MASTS FOE SAILING VESSELS. 

This form of vessel may be thought un- 
suitable for sailing vessels, because the 
masts cannot be stepped in every case, in 



12 

the usual way, below the decks. To answer 
this objection, I remark that they can be 
stepped in a socket on deck, which any 
man of sound judgment must see, is a very 
much better plan. As a spar cannot break, 
unless it first be bent to the breaking point, 
it follows that the right way to proceed to 
break a mast is to bind one end firmly, as we 
do, when it is stepped below deck, and then 
rig it so that it may bend sufficiently to 
break. If, however, we want to secure it 
so that it will be next to impossible to 
break it, we must step it loosely in a socket 
on deck, and then rig in the usual way. As 
no stretching of the rigging would have any 
effect to bend this mast it could not break. 
It is common sense that a very much 
smaller mast would be more reliable if 
stepped on deck. 

OCEAN NAVIGATION. 

My previous remarks have had reference 
to inland navigation only, where a form 
corresponding with the perpendicular and 
horizontal movements natural to water is 
all that is needed. When, however, we 



13 

would construct a form for ocean naviga- 
tion, we must, as a first consideration, have 
a regard to the powerful movement given to 
water by the ocean wave. It has never had 
a proper consideration, and consequently 
vessels have imperfect forms that are more 
or less unseaworthy. The dangers of the 
sea is looked upon as something beyond 
man's power to overcome, when the fact is 
the sea would be as harmless as the river, 
if the form was what it should be. 

The water, under the influence of the 
wave, gyrates in circles, as I have said, and 
when influenced by a storm, the whirling 
motion imparted to it clothes it with a 
mighty power. This movement is perfectly 
harmless unless interfered with. In a pro- 
perly formed vessel no harm would come 
from it, but let a form be such, that it inter- 
feres with it when it is clothed with power, 
and it will leap and strike it with a terrific 
force, destroying everything in its way. To 
overcome this evil, all that is necessary is 
that a vessel's form be beveled under from 
the water line downward, so that the roll of 
the wave will not be interfered with. While 



u 

a perpendicular form invites destruction, a 
beveled one secures safety. It is proper to 
remark in this connection, that perpendicu- 
lar forms are largely protected by the mo- 
tion they impart to the water when going 
rapidly forward, or by the drift water when 
hove to. 

THE HEAD SEA CONSIDEEED. 

A head sea is considered to be a great 
evil, hindering progress and doing damage. 
Much of this is not true, and it is bad sea- 
manship to blame the wave when the fault 
is in the form of the vessel. To contend 
with this so-called evil vessels are con- 
structed with lofty, bulky bows, which when 
plunged swiftly deep into a head sea, en- 
counter a pressure that causes the vessel 
to stagger and tremble with the strain, and 
if she was not stopped would soon destroy 
her. The wave is blamed for this, when 
the fault is entirely in the bulky bow, that 
this is so, is plain, for if the bow above the 
water line was removed, she could plunge 
continuously and violently without the 
slightest increase of strain, or without en- 
countering the least detention. 



15 

To correct this fault to construct a sea- 
going vessel on right principles, we should 
discriminate between the actual vessel in 
contact with the water and the structure 
raised upon it. The actual vessel should 
be formed so that the bows and stern for a 
proper distance would be but little above the 
water line, say three or four feet, and should 
be formed so that they could pierce the wave, 
or be washed by it without much increase 
of pressure, or possibility of damage. At 
a proper distance from the bow and stern 
the upper structure could be erected where 
it would not be a source of injury, and 
where it would be out of the reach of harm. 
Then the head sea would cease to have 
the damage doing character it now has, 
then vessels would pitch much less and could 
go forward rapidly unharmed. We should 
remember that we cannot conquer the wave 
by bulk in the vessel, for bulk above water 
is the very thing that gives it power to do 
damage. 

In closing, I remark that while I would 
not recommend the adoption of the form 
mentioned in these pages to sea-going ves- 



16 

sels that have lofty bows and high sterns, 
I would most earnestly recommend its ap- 
plication to forms of vessels such as I have 
indicated, fobms that would be in full 

ACCOBD WITH THE THBEE WELL KNOWN MOVE- 
MENTS IN WATEB. 

Jas. E. Cole. 
New Bbighton, 

BlCHMOND CO., 

New Yobk. 



